Moorish idol

[domination2580]

I'm really wanting a Moorish idol for my 120 once I set it up...I have a 55 up right now and was thinking about getting a juvenile and letting it grow...anyone have thoughts, helpful hints? It might be interesting to get it to eat...but I think it can be accomplished...I have plenty of coupons and amphipods

 

[dmh41532]

Unfortunately, due to their feeding needs they really are best left in the oceans. I've read some scarce 'success' stories about one or two hobbyists that get them to eat, having the fish live just a year or two. Moorish idols are benthic, eating sponges, tunicates, ect. Heniochus butterflies may be a good substitute. They look similar and apparently are much easier to care for.

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

@Brad Syphus has some, and I know others keep them as well (maybe @3FordFamily?). Hopefully others will weigh in who can help!

 

[4FordFamily]

I'm really wanting a Moorish idol for my 120 once I set it up...I have a 55 up right now and was thinking about getting a juvenile and letting it grow...anyone have thoughts, helpful hints? It might be interesting to get it to eat...but I think it can be accomplished...I have plenty of coupons and amphipods

A 55 gallon will not work. A juvenile will be next to impossible to keep they're significantly more fragile that's one reason you don't see them in the trade.

This fish is best left to experts. I honestly probably had no business trying one and consider my success at least half luck. I only tried once and it happened to work out.

These fish are so much more sensitive to disease, poor water quality, and being looked at wrong.

The best advice I have otherwise is to give it a ton of nori to graze on each and every day. Feed heavily and often. They waste away and once thin and their spine is visible it's almost always the end. Once thin they just quit. Blackworms are a good staple as well.

I also had mine in copper for a dry long time thanks to a rookie mistake of velvet in the tank. I added him in to a system with cupramine for several months and he's thrived. Perhaps this tells me that much of their problem in home aquaria is indeed simple disease such as ich. This makes sense to me based on my observation of how even a minor ich infestation over time can rob fish of their nutrients and calories so they slowly dwindle. They eat so they have fat bellies but their spine becomes visible and they thin everywhere else until their condition deteriorates such that they stop eating and quit.

But this is one experience. It was just too easy for me and again I think a lot of it was luck. My fish ate within an hour of going in the tank. He's been a ravenous eater since. Maybe someday I will try again and replicate what I did so I have a larger sample size.

I might add that cupramine levels were consistently 2-3x the recommended dose to make sure I killed everything off for good. Prior experiments showed that doing this slowly produced zero noticeable ill effects.

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

Here's another thread talking about them too: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/moorish-idol.216220/

 

[eatbreakfast]

Getting them to eat and keep on weight in the beginning is the challenge, once past this though they are quite hardy.

I have found they do well in the beginning with peaceful, outgoing fish. The other fish can 'teach' them to eat aquarium foods, but not intimidate them. Once they begin eating treating them for flukes will help rid them of internal worms and they will start to put weight on. After this they can handle being kept with more boisterous fish.

 

[Humblefish]

I would wait until you get a 120 before buying a MI. You can usually start them out eating in QT by feeding live blackworms, littleneck clam, LRS/Rod's, etc. Eventually some will even accept nori, pellets, even flake, etc. I've kept 2 MIs in the past 10-15 years, plus QT'd at least half dozen for friends. Two things I found:

1. These fish need a ridiculous amount of food to stay healthy. They have very high metabolisms. Feed 2-3x plus nori daily. This can become a problem sometimes if you are concerned about elevated nutrients/nitrates in your reef tank.
2. Some MI can hold their own, but others do not handle aggression from other fish well at all. My last MI would "sulk" in a corner and stop eating if he was being bullied by another fish. If your MI stops eating for whatever reason, you don't have long until they reach the point of no return.

 

[eea60]

I bought mine from DD because they say they kept him in qt for several weeks and had him eating. I decided against qt with it because I have a mature reef with plenty of sponges and other things to graze on and was more concerned with getting it eating. It still took a few days to get it to eat prepared foods and I had to remove my black and sailfin tangs because they were picking on him. In the beginning it would come to the front with my other fish but would swim through the food. He finally settled in and eats whatever I put in the tank. I have a lot of flow and surface agitation to help with oxygenation and gas exchange, have a skimmer rated at 3-4 times my tank size, use a refugium and light on reverse cycle for ph stability, feed high quality food soaked for added nutrition, and do biweekly water changes. My fish are no different than a dog or any other pet we consider family so I do everything I can to keep them healthy. Just be prepared for a difficult fish that takes a lot of extra work. Good luck

 

[kozzy]

Had one for a month or so. Ate within the first hour of getting it. Make sure it is eating in the store and a big step will be done. Mine perished from not having enough weight and later got Ich. I even fed five times a day!! With mysis,clams,spirilina shrimp and flakes and nori. Would definitely recommend getting it to eat new life spectrom pellets. I had mine in a 50 gallon. Should be fine for a bit until you Upgrade. Make sure there is lots of swimming room in the water Collum.

 

[4FordFamily]

I would wait until you get a 120 before buying a MI. You can usually start them out eating in QT by feeding live blackworms, littleneck clam, LRS/Rod's, etc. Eventually some will even accept nori, pellets, even flake, etc. I've kept 2 MIs in the past 10-15 years, plus QT'd at least half dozen for friends. Two things I found:

1. These fish need a ridiculous amount of food to stay healthy. They have very high metabolisms. Feed 2-3x plus nori daily. This can become a problem sometimes if you are concerned about elevated nutrients/nitrates in your reef tank.
2. Some MI can hold their own, but others do not handle aggression from other fish well at all. My last MI would "sulk" in a corner and stop eating if he was being bullied by another fish. If your MI stops eating for whatever reason, you don't have long until they reach the point of no return.

This is spot on

 

[nyreef123]

+1

 

[domination2580]

If it does stop eating...what would a seperate tank and hand feeding it do? Couldn't hurt could it?

 

[Humblefish]

If it does stop eating...what would a seperate tank and hand feeding it do? Couldn't hurt could it?

If it stops eating due to aggression from another fish, it makes sense to either remove the MI or the aggressor. My last one would eat nori/table shrimp right out of my hand. It would also swarm my hand and attack it. That, combined with how aggressively it ate, led me to believe that it could hold it's own with a Blue Angel. Bad mistake on my part.

 

[domination2580]

Lol. I guess if it had issues I would separate which ever and feed it and figure out a way to make them less aggressive....whether it be moving everything around or setting up a new tank